Relax, or: Really Cool Things About the UAE

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice--that's the Saudi religious police: they're the ones who wouldn't let 15 schoolgirls leave a burning building without their head scarves. And so they died.

The Social Support Centre--that's the Dept of the Interior group that handles the "psychological and physical therapy meted out to gays." They have a special jail for such people, and special rehabilitation programs.

Strikes are illegal in the UAE. Foreign workers--80% of the population--typically have to surrender their passports to their employers, and may not leave the country without express permission. A little like indentured servitude, but only if you squint your eyes. Alas, it's very sunny there.

The UAE is not a signatory to major human rights instruments like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the Convention against Torture. UNICEF estimates that some 6,000 boys are kidnapped and trafficked into the UAE annually to serve as jockeys in camel races. The US State Dept called for sanctions against the UAE in 2005; the White House protested that such a step was premature.